Jack Nash, Pioneer in Hedge Funds, Dies at 79

New York Times Blogs – Jack Nash, a former chairman of Oppenheimer & Company who helped pioneer the modern hedge fund business, died July 30 in Manhattan. He was 79.

He died at Mount Sinai Medical Center after a long illness, according to his family.

Mr. Nash, who fled Nazi Germany with his family at the age of 12, joined Oppenheimer as a trainee in 1951 when it was still a small Wall Street investment firm. He left briefly to work for his father’s textile business, but returned to the firm in 1954.

Mr. Nash became the company’s president in 1974, and its chairman in 1979.

At Oppenheimer Mr. Nash met Leon Levy, his longtime business partner. They specialized in leveraged buyouts and transformed the company into one of the world’s largest mutual fund businesses.